Controlling mechanism for elevators



(No Model.)

W. O. WAKEFIELD.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATORS. v No. 454,095. Patented Jun 16,1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. \VAKEFIELD, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIQNOR TO THE THOMSON-HOUSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF CONNECTICUT.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 454,095, dated June 16, 1891.

Application filed August 6, 1890.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known'that LWILLTAM ORVAKEFIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Controlling Mechanism for Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain novel devices by which the attendant in charge of the elevator may operate the starting and stopping mechanism to control the speed of the car or to arrest its movement altogether. Heretofore this has been accomplished in various ways through the agency of ropes either fixed in the hatchway or running with the car; but I do away with all such arrangements and provide a bar or shaft of the necessary rigidity, which the attendant may rotate, and thus effect the desired control of movement. For running the elevator I prefer to use an electric motor, and I have devised certain means, simple yet eifective, by which such motor can be regulated and reversed by the turning-shaft, all as described more particularly hereinafter.

My improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein-=- Figure 1 shows in elevation the car and turning-shaft, and illustrates diagrammatically the electrical connections for the motor. Figs. 2 and 8 are respectively end and side views of different modified means for operating the turningshaft, and Fig. & illustrates a modified form of starting and stopping mechanism and means for operating the same.

The car A is designed to travel up and down the hatchway in the ordinary manner, and the hoisting-cable B, after passing around sheave C at the top of the hatchway, is wound upon and paid 01f from a winding-drum D, to which is geared an electric motor E.

Passing through or near the car and ex tending along its path of travel in the hatchway is a turning bar or shaft F, which is suitably journaled in bearings, permitting a rotating movement. Connected with this bar and designed to rotate it is a lever-handle G or other suitable actuator for the attendant, which slides freely up and down the shaft,

Serial No. 361,174, (No model.)

but cannot turn thereon. In the device illustratcd this sliding but non-rotating connection is formed by a spline 6, extending the entire length of the shaft, which fits a keyway in the lever-handle; but the shaft may be grooved or squared, or any of the means employed which serve the same purpose in other mechanical constructions.

A valve II, which is opened and closed by the shaft F, controls the admission of water or other fluid from a supply-pipe'I to the cylinder J, in which reciprocates a ram or piston upon the plunger-rod K. This rod is connected with a resistance-changer for controlling the speed of the motor and a reversingswitch Q. It should be understood, however, that I may employ different means for 0011- necting the turningshaft with the starting and stopping mechanism and motors other than the electric one described. The motorcircuit can be readily traced from the conducting-lead L through the field-magnets, resistance O, contact-arm P, reversing-switch Q, the armature of the motor, and back through the reversing-switch to the other line-wire L. The resistance 0 is connected at successive points by leads a a to a duplicate set of contact blocks b b, and the contact-maker P is moved by the rod K to the right or left of the central position shown, according to the direction in which the elevator-car is moving. The reversing-switch Q is also thrown by the plunger K by means of the connecting-rod c, which has a pin or roller traveling in a cam groove in the sliding block R, which is fastened to the plunger. The cam-groove has a straight portion at each end, which permits a certain amount of lost movement between the resistance-changer and the reverser, and the contact-maker P is so arranged relatively to the actuating portion of the groove that the reversing-switch will be thrown at a time when the maximum resistance is in circuit, after which the continued movement of the plunger cuts down the resistance to any desired amount. By providing the double set of contacts a single resistance only is needed to control the motor, no matter which way it is running.

In Figs. 2 and 3 are shown modified arran gem ents by which the attendant may actuate the turning-rod. A gear-wheel S iskeyed or splined to the shaft, and a second gearwheel S, meshing therewith, is rotated either by a lever-handle, as at T, Fig. 2, or a handwheel, as at T, Fig. 3

An indicatorsegment 3 is provided, by which the positions of the starting and stopping mechanism may be known by noting the corresponding positions of the lever. For example,when the car is at rest the lever will ordinarily occupy the middle position shown, and it will be moved to the right or left, according as the car is ascending or descending.

In Fi at is shown a modification in which the turning-shaft operates the regulator for the motor directly. The regulator is represented as consisting of a resistance U, over which sweeps a contact-arm U, and a belt", passing around pulleys fast upon the contact-arm and turning-shaft, furnishes means for controlling the motor as desired.

hat I' claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of an electric motor with a regulator therefor, a plunger workin g within a cylinder and connected'with the regmotor and a cable drawn in and paid out by said motor and attached to a moving elevator-car, with a resistance having duplicate sets of contacts connected therewith,a mow ing eontaet-maker, a circu it-reversingswitcli, and an actuating device for said contactmaker and switch, permitting the formen a last movement and controlled by the attendant on the car, as described.

XVILLIAM O. \VAKEFIELD. Witnesses:

J OHN W. GIBBONEY, DUGALD MCKILLOP. 

